Liz in Servicehttps://lizinservice.com
umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu || a person is a person through people
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 13:28:33 +0000 en
hourly
1 http://wordpress.com/https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/3a0395645ded15ab6e4689560188c55b?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngLiz in Servicehttps://lizinservice.com
Please vote for City Year LA to expand to more schoolshttps://lizinservice.com/2014/09/04/please-vote-for-city-year-la-to-expand-to-more-schools/
https://lizinservice.com/2014/09/04/please-vote-for-city-year-la-to-expand-to-more-schools/#respondWed, 03 Sep 2014 22:28:14 +0000http://lizinservice.wordpress.com/?p=4411City Year Los Angeles has applied for a grant to expand to two high schools — Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights and Jordan High in Watts. (Yes, this would mean my Markham students would get City Year at Jordan High — the school Markham feeds into!)

]]>https://lizinservice.com/2014/09/04/please-vote-for-city-year-la-to-expand-to-more-schools/feed/0lizinserviceWhy I didn’t write a goodbye posthttps://lizinservice.com/2014/08/19/why-i-didnt-write-a-goodbye-post/
https://lizinservice.com/2014/08/19/why-i-didnt-write-a-goodbye-post/#commentsTue, 19 Aug 2014 16:07:00 +0000http://lizinservice.wordpress.com/?p=4409I’ve been back in America for exactly a month now. However, during the time in July prior to my goodbye in South Africa and until now, I was never inspired to write a blog post about it.

I had reached a point in my service that I was very, very ready. Ready to go, ready to say goodbye, and ready to jump into the next thing.

Simply put, I was ready to jump into my next move because I felt I had done as much as I could at site. I was in a complacent place with my work and knowing that I made a difference. I did what I could do without burning out to an extreme.

I was ready to say goodbye because I couldn’t stay there forever. As much as I loved my host family, I’m not part of their culture and must return to mine at some point.

I was ready to go because I was incredibly sick of being harassed (to a point where some new drunk idiots moved in by my taxi stop and would cat call me in my own village). I had a lot of anger built up inside of me toward the country, specifically because the way men act and how women are treated. Two years was, good god, enough.

I find it rather sad that I left with some of these feelings, because I had an incredible experience and don’t regret it one bit. But, sometimes you’re just ready. My patience grew weaker as time went on, likely because I knew America was around the corner.

The next jump for me will be graduate school at NYU to obtain my MPA. In the future, I hope to start my own nonprofit or be the director of communications of a nonprofit that focuses on public education in the US. (City Year!) I’ve got plenty of years to figure that out, but I’ll still be in the public service sector. I hope to have interesting things to continue to write about — but for now, I’m just a lost puppy wandering around NYC and getting “acquainted”.

Thank you to everyone who followed my post-undergraduate service journey in one way or another! For any City Year or Peace Corps hopefuls, please use my archives as a resource. Always feel free to contact me with any questions about either programs (contact tab above). I encourage you all to serve our country or another, and I’ll keep doing the same!

Three years and out. I’ll be back writin’ soon enough

Yours in service,
Liz

]]>https://lizinservice.com/2014/08/19/why-i-didnt-write-a-goodbye-post/feed/2lizinserviceMemories; the good and the badhttps://lizinservice.com/2014/06/19/memories-the-good-and-the-bad/
https://lizinservice.com/2014/06/19/memories-the-good-and-the-bad/#commentsThu, 19 Jun 2014 07:29:34 +0000http://lizinservice.wordpress.com/?p=4368This is a list of memories, good and bad. Some are inside jokes or “you had to be there” memories, but I wanted to keep documentation of them forever. Anyways, what would my Peace Corps service be without ridiculous memories?

Town

-Cramming in the backseat of a public taxi with three bags of groceries, which is clearly only supposed to fit three people, but somehow its managed – even if only part of your buttcheek is on the seat – to fit four.
-Making it home with a loaf of bread that isn’t squished.
-Long distance taxi rides – taking a day to basically get anywhere in this country. (Leave my house at 7am, get there at 5pm or later – aside from Durban.)
-The battle of the window. No one, NO ONE, will open a window in a moving vehicle, even if it is 90F outside with the African sun beating down on you. You. Can’t. Win.
-Traveling through town as usually the only white person in plain sight that day, unless PCVs are around.

A special place

-Getting called in town, “umlungu” (white person), “baby”, “honey”, “sexy”, “beautiful” never fails.
-Ignoring men has always helped. (Screaming, when need be, helps too.)
-The mama vendors on the street who always cheerfully greet any of us.
-Seeing a rat scuttle through my grocery store and laughing, totally not grossed out.
-The day my grocery store stocked Nutella (dude, what?)
-Avocado season, obvi.
-The time a teacher yelled at someone in town who called me umlungu (white person) and told them to call me tombi (girl). Bless her soul.
-Sitting on the post office stoop with the other Volunteers, which is in a somewhat secluded area and the only place in town we are 100 % harassment free.
-Pot O dates – a hole in the wall place where you can buy “viennas” (hot dog equivalent) and soggy fries, but the owners have always welcomed us and it’s our special food haven.

-Walking through town with an American male and not a soul hoots and hollers at you.
-The awesome – but really just flavoured ice – ice cream from the liquor store.
-Month end: when all the people within the municipality get their social grants, and thus come to town to withdraw cash and grocery shop. Lines for ATM/groceries can be an hour or more. NEVER AGAIN.
-Buying 800 Rand worth of groceries for four people for three nights and taking a five Rand taxi up the road because we were too lazy to carry groceries to the other rank.

-Puddles of water (or?….) that never seem to dry.

School
-The first day of teaching grade 5, scared as hell, and the kids didn’t catch onto my accent until about two months in.
-My extraordinary and hardworking principal.

-Morning assembly: singing gospel songs, praying, and school announcements. Totally normal life now.
-Staff meetings that last one hour standing in a hot room. D—-yyyiiiiingg.
-When one of my favourite learners slipped a note for me in her English workbook asking if I could be her mom, with a check yes or no.
-Sebetsang, my little writer boy, who is all kinds of amazing, and I WILL fundraise in America to send this boy to college.
-When Sebetsang heard a kid had stole my earphones, found the kid in the village wearing them, and got them back for me.
-Phumla, another favourite learner, coming to me when it was too noisy in class, or she was bored by the other kids, and wanted to just help me label library books.

Phumla, far back left

-Walking past Grade R (kindergarten) and them in unison saying, “Sawubona Ms. Mathebula!” or “Shine Ms. Mathebula!” waving their little hands, then always saying, “buh bye!” (Seriously, this can make any day SO much better.)
-My staff doing everything they could to help me with the Books for Africa project and the library.
-Getting letters from Nolwazi, a student now at the Secondary school, to just chat.
-When my grade 5s started laughing because someone “suza” (fart), and I had to seriously hold back laughter too.
-The first time I saw girl’s boobs out in the open and felt uncomfortable. LOL, whatevz now.
-Coming into school late to find grade 7 using the library for research (and even using encyclopedias!)
-Smelling what I thought was dead whale, but really was just a cow head being slaughtered across campus.
-Freaking out when my staff later told me to eat it. They got a good laugh.
-A fellow teacher pulling me aside after a meeting and asking me half serious/jokingly, “Liz, when was the last time you were kissed?”
-Beans and phutu school lunch day — best food EVER.
-Class never starting on time, or being canceled.
-Standing on my tippy toes to write on the chalkboard.
-Playing Heads Up Seven Up with the other PCVs and grade 5
-Always some type of noise or kids screaming.
-Staff meetings in Zulu – whyy
-My counterpart befriending Sphe, the 16-year-old boy who can’t write or speak, but can hear. He always would come looking for her during break. They are the best of friends.
-Sphe coming into the library after school to help me put away things, wrap up my computer cord, etc. and cracking up when I would speak Zulu to him. ADORABLE.

My Peace Corps People
-WhatsApp conversations about anything and everything ridiculous or good that happened during our days.
-Movie dates/Breaking Bad dates with Shawn via WhatsApp.
-Karaoke voice notes and pictures of half eaten food with George via WhatsApp.
-Battlefields sleepovers at Monica’s house or Will’s site.

Sleepover!

-When we cooked tacos for my birthday, ate so many, then my family invited us in for another dinner and cake. (Never been so full.)
-Seeing an African animal and camping for the first time. (Hippos in St. Lucia.)
-Dropping ground beef into a water bucket, but still retrieving it all and cooking it, because hell, we can’t waste any meat!
-Katie’s egg in the hole for breakfast.
-Cutting each other’s (and shaving) our hair.

-Sleeping on a twin bed horizontally with three people and chairs to extend our feet on; horrible decision.
-Everyone’s jealous of my spittoon.
-Watching videos of sloths, pugs, and porcupines at MST.
-Walking two hours to get to Will’s site from mine in the pouring rain.
-Buying horrible, dry, semi-tasteless cakes but still eating the whole thing.

-Taco nights from care packages.

Monica's birthday taco night at the lodge

-Romantic date night over a bucket turned upside down and wine in a tin cup in a dimly lit straw hut.
-Dancing in the rain with no shoes around FNB Stadium in Joburg for the Bruce Springsteen concert and screaming “AMRUCIA”. (Might as well be my favourite because it was so close to home.)

These were indeed some glory days

-Beer and burgers in Durban never fails. (OK, sometimes we are Posh Corps.)
-Rakeesha’s beauty salon at IST in our room.

Village
-Babas/Umkhulus – older men. SWEETEST PEOPLE EVER. “ahhhh, Sawubona Tombi!” (Hello, girl!) with a big fat smile on their faces. Heart melts.
-Kids knocking on my door to say hi, depending on my mood.
-Weekend playdates with my favourite kids – making clay pots in mud after it rained, playing uno, and watching the Lion King.
-When Siyabonga came to me the first week after teaching when the class completely misbehaved, and apologized on behalf of everyone, and said in broken English he wants to learn English more. He is still shy, but now a top learner.
-My host mama dancing and singing a Zulu house music song, shaking her booty and all.
-My family always bringing me beans when they cooked them because they knew how much I love beans.
-Giving my family a taco and my uncle calling it sushi, loving it, and saying he was the Sushi King!
-Watching my mom yell at the kitten in Zulu when it’s getting too frisky. Hai bo kitty, hai bo! How wena! (Stop it, stop it, you!)
-Gogo (grandma) loving watching WWE wrestling and yelling at the screen.
-Rejecting sheep intestines on Easter, and my aunt playfully scolding me, saying she won’t eat anything I make with avocado.
-When I once told a woman I would help (ngizosiza), but I accidently said I will fart (ngizosuza).
-Unbearable – or barely bearable – winters. Wrapping myself up in an onesie, sweatpants, down NorthFace jacket, two oversized blankets as the only time I can ever retain any heat. Other than that, being cold 24/7 with no source of heat.
-The rootster raping hens infront of my hut.
-Slaughtering a cow on our lawn and then eating it.
-A chicken with its head cut off running at me.
-The satisfaction of killing mosquitoes, and having mosquito killing contests with fellow Volunteers.
-Killing insects with my bare hand/not flinching if a spider crawls on my blanket.
-Hiding behind a house on my property on my way to school to avoid the village crazy while he herds his cattle.
-Literally living off of eggs, ramen and lentils.
-Generations nights with my family. (Watching a corny, but oh so good soap opera every night at 8pm) with my family.) Yea, I’m gonna miss that show.
-My counterpart dressing me in traditional Sotho wear and taking me through her village; she introduced me to Gogo (Grandma) Mandela, who was born the same year as Nelson Mandela.

-Living with no water for a full week and only saving enough rain water for coffee.

Here’s to remembering!

]]>https://lizinservice.com/2014/06/19/memories-the-good-and-the-bad/feed/3lizinservicewpid-img-20131101-wa000.jpg13999868971_7bff864466_zwpid-img-20140502-wa003.jpg14003526744_c4347caae7_zwpid-img_0654.jpgSONY DSCSONY DSC20140201_210228_LLSIMG_4522wpid-img_1294.jpgMonth 21 & 22: the implementation gaphttps://lizinservice.com/2014/06/07/month-21-22-the-implementation-gap/
https://lizinservice.com/2014/06/07/month-21-22-the-implementation-gap/#commentsSat, 07 Jun 2014 14:05:42 +0000http://lizinservice.wordpress.com/?p=4364Now that these two years are coming to an end, I’ve recently had an unexpected revelation: Explaining one’s Peace Corps service to someone outside of Peace Corps – in a few words – might as well be more challenging than the Peace Corps itself. There are so many different aspects of our two years that make up our Peace Corps service as a whole, but takes practice to summarize into a one liner. As I flail and try to enter the real world back in America, I’ve done a lot of introspective thinking about what exactly my job has been here. What’s my one liner?

The implementation gap. That’s it. This term derives from City Year (of course), but I really relate it to my Peace Corps service as well. Addressing the implementation gap refers to giving needy schools extra support – these schools are not designed or equipped for the demands that face them often in high poverty areas.

Inferred from my two years in South Africa, I believe that the school system is not designed properly for rural educators and students. There are a few ways that can alleviate this, and most importantly from the Peace Corps side: extra support.

Although rural schools are small, the challenges educators face are far more time consuming than they would in a more developed area 40 kms down the road. This particularly has to do with the demanding curriculum that switches to all English in grade four, which the kids struggle to complete. Completing the curriculum on-time rarely happens, and there is little – if any – time to stay on one topic the learners are struggling with. My colleagues make kids come to school during holidays or weekends to catch up on the curriculum or go over things they don’t understand.

My educators also act as parental figures for a lot of these kids who are orphans or are being raised by gogo (grandma). They know the background story of the kids and make sure they are being cared for. I have seen the result of their care – in particular, one grade 8 girl who has a challenging home life, but was also raised at school. She is top of her class and the most respectful and caring young girl I have met here.

There are 15 educators on my staff that teach full-time. Their periods off are spent grading papers. Outside of that, they have little time to attend to individual students or any project that does not relate to their primary teaching job. Stay after school you think? That generally isn’t possible either. Some learners walk up to an hour to get to school, and educators travel up to an hour.

All of my colleagues work really hard, and care about their jobs and these kids, but there’s only so much they can do. That’s where the Peace Corps comes in!

As you know, the Masotsheni Primary School library has been a trial and error process for about two years. I came here, saw there was ample space for a library, but realized that my staff just didn’t know how to approach getting a large donation of books.

Simply, that I am computer literate, have an understanding of how to work with nonprofits and administratively organize such projects through email/Internet/technology, and have all the time in the world to focus on a large project was that extra support this little rural school needed.

My principal told an adorable story at our library opening ceremony about her first attempt at a library. When she first was accepted to become a David Rattray Foundation school, Ben came to check out our school and see the library. He told her the library was not a library, but a storeroom, and he would not give the school books until the room looked better. My ma’am then set out to organize the books as a library in the best way she could over the weekends. Unfortunately, she never had enough time to set up a system other than putting books on the fiction and non-fiction shelves. I’m not quite sure what happened after that, except I arrived to site a few months later and saw a perfect opportunity for a project.

Since the library has been done, my staff and learners have done everything they could to fulfil their part of the bargain. The library is functioning, being treated with respect, and the kids are eager to use it (and sit on the new carpet!) My principal oversees the library as much as she can, brings classes in, checks up on the classes when I’m with them to hammer down the law, and does orientation for them in Zulu and English just in case they don’t follow me.

I have two grade 7 library leaders, Nokulunga and Snenjabulo, who look over the checkout book every day and ensure the books are returned, reshelve them, and help younger learners checkout and find books. They do this ALL without me EVER telling them to do it – I simply gave them an orientation of how to do things; they are both incredible learners and I’m really enjoying closing my service with the pleasure of watching these kids take such pride in their school.

My Peace Corps service ended up being how I had pictured it – aiding people to accomplish a goal they already wanted and were trying to reach before I arrived. I alone cannot change the world, but I can help others who want change. I was just one helping hand that brought the missing pieces to the puzzle. Our school now has one more resource for continued extra support in English that over the years will hopefully help alleviate the language and literacy barriers rural children face. Now that the time consuming part of the project is over, from here on out it’s up to my school to keep it going.

I’m confident that I’m leaving South Africa knowing that this library will be ran correctly for years to come, because everyone involved wanted this project to happen just as much as I did. And there’s that. What did I do in the Peace Corps? I helped close the implementation gap.

Library opening ceremony at my school to thank all the donors that made our library possible (the David Rattray Foundation for the furniture and some books, Books for Africa for a majority of the books, and the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation in Nigeria for even more of the books!) Department of Education KZN officials attended, whom I partnered with on our second BFA container here in South Africa that was funded through the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation. About ten Peace Corps Volunteers that weren’t part of our first Books for Africa project received books from this project, and then 32 other schools identified by the Dept. received books. My principal was beaming with pride and joy, and I will never forget that day! In total, 71 rural libraries have been established since the start of all our Books for Africa efforts! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO WORKED WITH ME AND MADE THIS POSSIBLE!

Monica’s farewell function – one of my closest Volunteers geographically and friend in my cohort. She is traveling back to America soon, but I know I will see her! Her school put on an on-time, meaningful and beautiful ceremony for her. It was incredible to see how much her community loved her and the impact she has had.

Miss Molefe, my counterpart, graduated from University of South Africa with a bachelor’s degree in education in Durban. We traveled there with her family and friends from her house at 4:30 am in the morning to make the 10 a.m. ceremony. I am so happy I got to attend and see her graduate because she is one of my best friends here. I’m happy when others I care about are happy!

George’s 30th birthday/farewell function. In the course of a weekend, I took six forms of transportation to get to my best friend George’s site in Mpumalanga to celebrate his 30th birthday, attend his farewell, and help him finish his library before he moves to KwaZulu-Natal for his third year. Tiring, but worth it.

]]>https://lizinservice.com/2014/06/04/a-month-in-photos-may-2014/feed/0lizinserviceSee you July 19th, America!https://lizinservice.com/2014/06/04/see-you-july-19th-america/
https://lizinservice.com/2014/06/04/see-you-july-19th-america/#commentsWed, 04 Jun 2014 12:04:02 +0000http://lizinservice.com/?p=4339I have been approved to close my service and leave South Africa on July 19th — 30 days before graduate school orientation. The process of leaving makes me extremely sad, and already teary-eyed, but I can’t stay here forever. My projects are done, and it’s about time to go home — it’s just bittersweet. I will leave knowing a new Volunteer will be with my family and school next September, which I’m thrilled about.

But, I don’t want to talk too much about the sad stuff yet, so I can talk about the things I am looking forward to! I’ll be coming to my dad’s house in Houston, then flying to San Francisco to visit my hometown and best friends, and then to New York to search for an apartment. (I’m really trying to make it out to Los Angeles as well, but had to reassess my plans because I’ll really be scraping funds on this whole moving to one of America’s most expensive cities after I’ve been living on a stipend for three years thing.) I’ll be living with my friend Rakeesha – a fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from my cohort – who is also attending NYU, but for her master’s in journalism!

Although life for me here is normal now, adventure awaits! I’ll be leaving here with nothing but happy memories as those trump any bad ones, and that’s exactly how I had hoped I’d leave.

See you soon friends!!!

Yours in service,Soon to be Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Liz

]]>https://lizinservice.com/2014/06/04/see-you-july-19th-america/feed/2lizinserviceSee you soon friends!!!Education is the most powerful weapon; part twohttps://lizinservice.com/2014/06/04/education-is-the-most-powerful-weapon-part-two/
https://lizinservice.com/2014/06/04/education-is-the-most-powerful-weapon-part-two/#respondWed, 04 Jun 2014 11:38:01 +0000http://lizinservice.com/?p=4332I’ve been MIA on my blog lately because I’ve been busy finishing projects and spending time with people before this journey is up. Anyways, here’s a late — but better than never — video of Sebetsang reciting one of his poems at a library opening ceremony at my school. I wrote the quote, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world” (Nelson Mandela) for him once, and from there his ideas have spiraled into an essay and a poem. Take a look and see just how bright this grade 8 boy is! I’ve recently learned his name means “hard worker” in Sotho. He’s come a long way, and I can’t fathom how well he’ll be doing in five years.

]]>https://lizinservice.com/2014/06/04/education-is-the-most-powerful-weapon-part-two/feed/0lizinserviceThank you, Umkhulu Warden!https://lizinservice.com/2014/05/19/thank-you-umkhulu-warden/
https://lizinservice.com/2014/05/19/thank-you-umkhulu-warden/#commentsMon, 19 May 2014 10:44:22 +0000http://lizinservice.wordpress.com/?p=4301After a short weekend away, I got a pleasant surprise at school this morning. The ceiling on my school’s library was completed quickly on Saturday! My grandpa (umkhulu) Warden donated to make this construction possible; my library now looks like a real room without wood boards spanned across the ceiling. Before this renovation, we just had boards that kept the roof upright, but nothing adequate over our heads. Grade seven was in awe – a few favourite quotes to come from them, “Miss! Our school is perfect!” and “I feel like I’m just dreaming!”

Thank you for your generous donation and helping leave a Warden legacy here in South Africa, Grandpa Warden! The kids of my village will benefit for years to come and treat their library as a home away from home.

Presentation to the teachers

So purrrrty!

Wardens

I’ve been working nonstop in the library until 5pm everyday in order to prepare for our official opening ceremony this Thursday with representatives from the Dept. Of Education, Peace Corps and David Rattray Foundation to thank the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation for donating a second container of Books for Africa books to South African schools, and Books for Africa for working with Peace Corps South Africa for the past two years to make these libraries a reality.

Although we just had a week long break from school the first week of April, a bunch of South African holidays collided, so we got another week off! Shawn came down for a visit for and then we spent a few days at Umzinyathi house on Fugitive’s Drift Lodge’s property with Laura, Monica and Katie. (A cute and secluded budget/self-catering house in the Battlefields.) Laura’s mom booked us for a little staycation — thanks Mama Bram!!!

Happy 37th Birthday Monica! (She thought we forgot. Little did we not…we had been planning some activities for about a month now. Lots of surprises and good food for her!)

Climbing up Isandlwana mountain, which is close to Katie’s site. (Isandlwana is where the Zulus and British fought in 1879, and the Zulus won.)

Yes, this month was American-based. No, I’m not done with my library, and thus no new project pictures.

]]>https://lizinservice.com/2014/05/05/a-month-in-photos-april-2014/feed/1lizinserviceMonth 20: umdeni wami (my family)https://lizinservice.com/2014/04/21/month-20-umdeni-wami-my-family/
https://lizinservice.com/2014/04/21/month-20-umdeni-wami-my-family/#respondMon, 21 Apr 2014 14:30:48 +0000http://lizinservice.wordpress.com/?p=4267Family. Umdeni. Depending on one’s culture and values, that word can have a lot of different meanings. For Zulus, family spans from the immediate family to the most distant relatives. (For example, when I ask my sister how someone is related to our family, she sometimes shrugs and laughs with an, “I don’t know.”) For me, family has been strictly immediate – ya know, the people who helped raise you or that you have made memories with.

I was literally dropped off at my family’s home way back when. They didn’t know anything about me except my age, gender and country of origin. Since then, I’ve become a real part of this family, and my definition of family has changed.

Yesterday was Easter Sunday, and we ventured up the hill to gogo’s house. All of my mom’s siblings were visiting (my aunts and uncles) and all their children (my cousins). Specifically, one cousin was visiting who went to the primary school I work at, but since then moved to another area with her uncle for secondary school. I’ve been here long enough to see her transition from a little girl to a full blown teenager, which alone makes me feel like I’m a member of this family.

Even more so, my mom likes to call me and my sister “black and white twins” — makes me laugh every time. My sister and I are both 25-year-old (soon to be on my part) only children. The immediate family on my property is pretty small, so they wanted to expand their family, just like I did!

When I say “mom”, I’m 99 percent sure talking about my South African mom. Same goes for grandma, uncle, aunt, sister, brother, cousin. That’s not to say I’ve forgotten about my American family, but I don’t differentiate the two. Everyone here and everyone there is a part of my family.

Last month, my American dad and step mom had the pleasure of visiting my family and village. We had dinner and cake for my sister’s birthday, and watched the video from my mom’s wedding. Both of my families got to meet, spend time together through a bond I share with both of them.

Ironically, visiting gogo’s house on Easter reminded me so much of visiting my own grandma’s house when I was younger. I can’t understand most things people say at family gatherings unless my sister translates, so I kind of just sit there, twiddle my thumbs and laugh when people are acting things out because then I get some sense of “what’s going on”. As a kid, I did relatively the same thing at my grandma’s house, but because I was the only kid and no one was close to my age. This Easter, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself because as different as they are, my family experiences still share some similarities. Just one more reason why I merge the two!

My family is hosting the next Volunteer that will replace me in September. It’s bittersweet to know I will be replaced because another American will be welcomed into this family; he or she will get to have the amazing experience I had. I just hope they always remember me, because I will never forget them! I will always consider them part of my family, and am happy my dad and step mom were able to meet them.

Much love to the Mathebulas! I cannot begin to thank them for all they have done for me, especially giving me an incredible family from one continent to another. I now understand that family doesn’t have to be the people who have always been in your life; family is the people who treat you like family – that’s what will always count.